Maui Wowee?

I've never been to Hawaii. Munro has been to Kauai and Maui a couple of times. Everyone says they don't want to raise my expectations, but that I will love it. Hawaii, or any of one the islands that comprise the archipelago, has never held much interest for me. But friends are getting married and we haven't had a real holiday in years, not since Panama. So we're grabbing the excuse with both hands and ... off we go.

Our flight left at the crack of dawn and we flew to SFO to catch our plane to Maui. I'm seated on the right side of the plane, so I have an excellent view of not only the sunrise but the wildfires devastating Southern California.

I see the mountains, which are clearly outlined against the beginning rays of sun. The Santa Ana winds have blown all the smog out to sea. As I look below, I see glimmers of red and gold along the hillsides, reminiscent of the way windows along Sunset Cliffs look at.... sunset (d'oh!). Then I realize the colors I see aren't the sunrise's rays on buildings but fires. Long, glimmering, twisting lines of fire with wind-whipped mares tails of smoke heading out over the land for miles, blocking views of the land and the beaches.

It's a scene from hell. LAX is completely obscured. So is much of Northern San Diego County, Orange County, and northwards. The smoke cover is so thick that I'm reminded of the cloud cover over New Zealand. Except this cloud cover is more deadly.

I'm thankful that we moved our flights to change planes in SFO and my heart goes out to everyone left behind.

It's an uneventful flight (the best kind, as Dad always says). We land in Maui with our final approach over pineapple plantations and surf breaks on the North shore. Munro is pretty happy.

Luggage, check. Boogie board, check. Car at rental place, check. Now for lunch at Mama's Fish House (recommended by the guard at the rental gate).

It's windy here as we wend our way through Pa'ia to the infamous Fish House. We are a bit cranky (well, he is, I'm ready for a Mai Tai and some fish).

Mama's is on the beach in a lovely setting and decorated with "found" objects. Now everyone will tell you to go here. Be prepared - we spent over $120 for lunch and had:
1 mai tai (me)
1 rum punch (Munro)
1 hearts of palm salad (teeny tiny bits of palm, and expensive)
1 main course (not even the most expensive at $36)
1 glass of wine (mediocre sauvignon blanc, shared).

The food was decent. Not outrageousely good, but decent. It's an easy $100 plus per head. Now I'm no cheapskate where fine dining is concerned, but I expect value. West steak house in Carlsbad delivers amazing value for the buck (and you pay mucho bucks there, but I'd move in - it's that wonderful). West, worth it. Mama's, not so much.

We leave and head out to do some basic grocery shopping. We're staying at a condo-hotel so we can pack picnics and make our own breakfasts. Our hotel is nice and we upgrade to a 9th floor room with sweeping views of the bottom half of the island and Molokini across the water. We're both a bit shattered from the flight and not much sleep the night before, so it's an early night.

Getting Out Of Dodge

We are to leave for Maui in the morning. It's hard to feel festive and in the mood for a vacation when hundreds of thousands of people are out of their homes. When the sun and sky look like something out of an Apocolypse movie set, I get the heebie jeebies.

As of now our friends are safe. Some have lost homes, others are cleaning up smoke damage. The fires are raging and converging.

The airline we're taking is allowing passengers from San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and surrounding affected airports to make changes to itineraries due to the flames. I'm not the best of travelers, so I call and convince the agent at the other end of the line that I need to fly from San Diego to San Francisco in order to actually get out of town tomorrow. My husband agrees and lets me manage this.

I'm worried for our friends and the others affected and not happy about leaving town. Then again, I'm having a hard time breathing, so leaving town is my only option.

Our prayers will be with everyone back here.

San Diego Wildfires

I get anxiety attacks. Usually with good reason. Last night I was up most of the night and prowled around the apartment. The air was dry and I was sneezing, which I blame on the Santa Ana winds howling around the balcony. It's an eerie night as the sky looks funny.

I go back to bed and get up (again) very early. I turn on the news and find that San Diego, heck all of Southern California from Santa Barbara to the border of Mexico - is in flames. And it's getting worse.

Friends are evacuating. Others are packed and waiting it out. The smoke at the beach isn't as bad as it was during the Cedar Fires, but bad enough to kick in my asthma and make me close all the windows.

We are to leave for Maui on Tuesday. I'm wondering if we should.

Big Boat Series Practices..

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were practice days. We saw great wind (20-30k) and worked our butts off. Crew work is coming along nicely and I have goose bumps from sailing around Alcatraz and short-tacking up the San Francisco City Front. I do Pit with other gals - our shirts say "Nothing goes Up without the Pit Gals!" Nice.

Today is a "rest day" but how much rest can you get if you go to West Marine 6 times?

Racing starts tomorrow. A few new folks will be joining the crew and there will be some shuffling around as we have more than the allotted 22 people for crew. We are the party whenever we walk in anywhere. And we've been doing a lot of partying.